I Am Trying Not to Despair...

Oh, Dixie.

I love my little Muppy. And I openly call her Muppy in front of the whole wide world simply because I love her.

Years ago, this happened.

Dixie is now nine and I fear that she may have lost her mind, if not just a little bit. She chased a rabbit the other day, quite out of character for her. I think she's just having a bit of an identity crisis and has forgotten that she is a deer hound.

Well, today Dixie chased another rabbit. (How do we know it was a rabbit? Good question. Dixie is such a fabulous deer hound that she has a particular howl for deer, and a different howl for everything else. The howl she let out today and the other day were not her deer howls.)

And now that she is off chasing the rabbit, she has not come home. She didn't meet the gang back at the trucks to go home.

And now my muppy waits, alone in the forest, for my family to return in the morning.

I'm doing surprisingly well. I am not weeping uncontrollably or laying in the fetal position on the living room floor. I feel like someone should give me a token for such behavior on my part.

I can't imagine a life without Dixie, a life without squealing "MUPPY! Muppy muppymuppymuppy" in such a fashion that Dixie goes crazy and spins in circles howling her delight. I can't imagine not having my cuddle buddy lay beside me on the couch. I don't know what I will do with myself should my beagle not return to me.

But I am keeping my spirits high. She has run away from home before, and now she has run away again.

Here's hoping that Dixie returns home safely once again.